Leaf's Fire Gem
by Ryuuohjin
Summary: Orochimaru stumbles upon Naruto after some village gave him a beating, and was fascinated but he found. How will this change Naruto's life? Sorry, I'm not good at summaries, this story will be AU, and contain a female Naruto, just so you are warned if don't like it don't read it. (On Hold)
1. Chapter 1 - Beginnings

**The Leaf's fire gem**

 **/|~{ (- Author's Note -) }~|\**

 **Official Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or any referenced or related works in that may appear in this story. If there ever is an OC inclusion in this the resemblance of a name and/or physical appearance to anyone living or deceased is completely coincidental. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the sole property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author.

This, along with getting on playing twinsaga online, are the main reason to why I been slow to update my Harry Potter stories. Got this in my head one day and refused leave until I got it out.

As this is my first try in doing writing a story in Naruto fandom, if there any inconsistencies or if see anything wrong please tell me. Or if you liked you could also tell me, since that is always nice to hear. So after you have you finished reading it, I would like it if you left a review with thoughts about it.

 **Warning:** Gender-Bending: This fic will have a male being turned into a female. If such things are not what you prefer to read, go away now. It may also contain a female Haku, haven't decided yet.

I will warn you now, this story will be AU, and it will contain a female Naruto, but no Naruko.

I have yet decided on any pairing, or if I should have any at all yet.

The story will start a bit before Naruto cannon. With main differences that Orochimaru has yet to abandoned the village, but is still very discontent with it, he has just not been caught doing something bad enough to run yet.

If any of the above displeases you, then don't read it. That was all, now onto the story.

 **Update 20016-08-22:** Fixed some mistakes and errors I saw I missed.

 **Update 20016-09-15:** Just made minor changes, here and there, nothing major or important.

 **/|~{ (- Author's Note -) }~|\**

 **Chapter 1 - Beginnings**

A three-year old blond boy runs into an ally, followed closely by an angry mob of villagers. Soon the boy runs into a dead-end, and desperately turns around only to come face to face with the feet and fists of the mob.

 _'Why me?'_ cried the boy in his mind, kick and blows rains on him.

He doesn't know what he did wrong to make the villagers hate him so much, all he did was walk around the town. After an hour of beating the boy to a bloody pulp the mob dispersed, their anger finally spent, leaving the boy broken in a very large pool of his own blood.

However, he was still somewhat conscious and slowly he began to crawl away. Already most of the cuts and bruises had healed, and the broken bones were starting to mend, when suddenly he notice a man standing above him, before blacking out before when the man knocked him out.

 _'Amazing regeneration powers… he could be useful in perfecting some of my techniques without having to use so up so many test subjects,'_ the man thought. _'I could perfect the processes on him and then try it out on the others to test its effects on a normal human.'_

With that the man bent down and grabbed the boy and flung his now unconscious body over his shoulder. _'Kukuku, I can barely to see wait see what his body can handle.'_

 **/|~{ (-I-) }~|\**

It was dark. Only a small yellow dim light shone reflecting against the glass of a large experimental tube, that contained a small girl was floating painfully in the bluish-green coloured liquid that filled the tube. She had a mask on that seemingly gave her oxygen, and numerous amounts of electrodes were attached to gain data from every part of her body, all which were hooked up to the several machines that was analysing the information.

She was only robed in her dark amber birthday suit, with her silvery-blond hair floating around her head like a halo, contrasting greatly against her skin and partially hiding a blue-green diamond-shaped crystal that was in the middle of her forehead. What looked like small, black, metallic plates of vertebrae-like design, could be seen covering her spine, overlapping each other, from the the top of her neck all the way down to her tailbone, ending in a black scorpion-like tail that barley reached her ankles, and appeared to be mechanical, with the same vertebrae-like design as the plates.

Beside the tank one man was patiently waiting for his work to be done. He stroked his long black hair and grinned from ear to ear when he saw the vials of different glowing liquids empty into surgical hoses inserted here and there in girl body. They flowed downward, and entered into the girl's body and then were no more, now he had to to was wait. Even though she sedated heavily into unconsciousness, after a short while the girl's breathing were becoming heavy, erratic, and laboured. 

It's been a year since the man had managed to get this child and had subjected her to many tests, experiments and alterations. For example, the man had tried infuse the child with DNA stolen from the First Hokage, in attempt to see if had he could recreate the Mokuton (Wood Release), that the First had become famous for, using gene-splicing techniques.

But the child body, like all other test subject he had tried it on, had rejected the DNA, and after several repeated attempts he abandoned that project. He suspected the child would have died if it wasn't for the high regeneration abilities she possessed from being a jinchūriki. He then tried to do something similar with cells had obtained from someone having the Kōton (Steel Release), but got same results there.

The man had also implanted bone marrow from a member of the Kaguya clan, in an attempt to if child would obtain their kekkei genkai, the Shikotsumyaku (Dead Bone Pulse), which gives its wielder the ability to manipulate their own skeletal structure. The main capabilities of Shikotsumyaku was allowing the user to manipulate the speed of their bones' growth as well as the location of calcium deposits allowing for great versatility.

Which allowed the user to create weapons of their bones that can either protrude from any part of their body, or pulled out and used like handheld weapons. They could also use this to create armour of dense bone underneath their skin. Users could increase the density of the created bones, making them stronger than steel. But even that had ended in miserable failure, with child only because of fast healing.

Although, one that the man was still a little miffed about that the cursed seals he had created, constantly kept being rejected. They just kept dissolving and burning away. He had no doubt the bijuu that was sealed in child was the one responsible for this. Then a few months ago, the man had decided to test the child's resistance to various poison, toxins, drugs, and serums, and various other chemicals both natural and synthetic. To say that the end results had been quite fascinating and totally unexpected, were an understatement, at least in the man's opinion.

As the girl floating in the tube, had actually been a boy originally. But after an experiment involving the man injecting the child with a powerful and fasting serum, that the man himself had created. It was designed to kill people painfully at a genetic level. It had been a test on the child's resilience and healing ability against unknown and unorthodox substances. A short while after the man had injected the serum into the child, the child began to writhe spasm, and twitch. After a minute of this, red malevolent chakra began to bubble out of child's body, completely covering the small child.

After a several hours the red malevolent chakra had began to recede, and the man noticed that the child had went through several changes. The first and most obvious change was that the child's peach pink skin now were of dark amber skin tone. While the child's once sun-kissed blond hair had become silvery white, while and time time double in length. There had also been modifications to the face as well; the nose was smaller, more delicate, and the cheekbones had been reshaped, becoming higher and more streamlined, while the child ears had become longer, sharper, pointer, and more elfin in nature.

The child's sky blue eyes become larger, wider, and more round in shape, along with having a circular pattern in them. Their colours had also changed, while iris now were deep orange, and they always seemed glow with a inner light of their own, but the most fascinating part were the pupils. Which now were clear bright white, they even whiter then the sclera, and made man suspect that maybe the child's eye may contain some kind of doujutsu, but he had yet find any proof of this.

The child body had also become a bit shorter, looking delicate and frail the before. But after some further inspections the man had found out that all bones, nerves, sinews, and muscle fibres in the child's body had become much denser, making the body much stronger and sturdier then it looked, along with giving the child immense strength that belied her small childish frame.

But the most remarkable change were the black tail and plates, now adorned the little girl's back. After having studied this phenomenon thoroughly, the man had found out the traces from his previous attempts to implant a kekkei genkai in child, and the with bijuu chakra with in her, had combined while the the bijuu had tried to heal and purge its host from the serum he had injected.

While the serum had worked, it had only managed to destroy about half of child's DNA. With half that had belonged to the child's father side almost obliterated. While the DNA from the mother seemed to have copped better. He theorized it was due to the fact she had been a Uzumaki, which seemed to be the reason why the child was now a girl.

While he still hadn't find any traces of effects of First Hokage's from cells, the other two were completely different story. From what the man could tell they had somehow mutated had merged, resulting in the black bones covering the child's spine, along with the new tail appendage she now got. The bones were harder then steel, but didn't impede her movement or flexibility in anyway. Although the man had become a little disappointed in find out that the child was unable manipulate the bones in anyway, expect for freely moving the tail around.

"If this works, then I might be able to do this to myself," the man said to no one in particular.

He was currently trying to see if he could forcibly create a strong chakra affinity for fire nature in the child. To do this he used bit gene-splicing, along with drugs. The crystal that he had embedded in the child forehead was for this purpose only. It was made from a very rare and special type of gem named Kesshōseki. It said to have the ability to augment the natural abilities of ones chakra.

But the only sample of Kesshōseki the man had ever seen, was on a necklace originally belonging to the Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage, and was said to have augmented his abilities to capture and control tailed beasts. And if it was to be sold, it was said that three mountains containing gold mines could be bought with the profits from it. It had taken him a lot of time, a quite bit of ryo and a bit of subterfuge before had managed to track down and liberate another piece of Kesshōseki. As the man had no wish to tussle with the current owner of the First Hokage's necklace, Senju Tsunade a.k.a. the Slug Princess. This current sample, after much experimentations and tests, had been altered to bring forth, augment and amplify, fire natured chakra in the child.

Suddenly the unconscious girl threw her head back and thrashed about in the tube, arching her back, whilst letting out a loud ear-piercing and heart rendering scream. Her legs stiffened and her toes curled as pain tore through her small body, and her tiny frame contracted and twitched in anguish. Then just as quick as it came, it ended, and the girl slumped together, out cold once more. The man ran over to check the readings and meters, and the graphs the machines printed out.

He frowned.

"Failed," was the only word he could utter.

 _'The subject is still rejecting the procedure,'_ the man thought. _'The subject is the Nine Tails jinchūriki with a link to the Uzumaki clan, so increasing the dosage wouldn't kill her.'_

The man proceeded to produce a large syringe and went to one of the tubes connected to girl. As he was about to inject the liquid into the tube, a hand stopped him. He turned his head slightly, and smiled at the newcomer.

"Sarutobi-sensei," the man said.

"Orochimaru," the newly revealed Hokage revealed. "It seems you have not changed one bit."

The man, now revealed as the most powerful of the legendary Sannin, just laughed. "I am sorry, sensei, but it seems that I must take my leave."

Then he disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving the unconscious white-haired girl floating in tube and the old man alone. He sighed, and released the long black staff he was holding. It poofed out of existence and changed into large ape with white fur and a Konoha headband around its forehead.

"Sarutobi, this is the second time you have released him," Enma, the white ape commented.

"I know old friend, I just could not do it," the Third replied. He sighed sadly and began to extract the the girl from her watery prison, as well as unplug the various devices plugged into her tiny frame, along with shattering the chains that kept her bound. He stroked her long white hair and proceeded to carry her out of the dim room.

"Let's go, Enma," he said, hands covered around the small child protectively. "I have to make sure Orochimaru did nothing dangerous to her."

The ape nodded and poofed out of existence. The old man sighed and made his way to the hospital.

 **/|~{ (-I-) }~|\**

 _'I broke the promise I made to Minato and Kushina'_ , a tall man with waist-length, spiky white hair was tied back into a pony tail thought, as he stood beside the Hokage looking down on the small child in hospital bed. She was short. Really short. Not even needing half of the bed. He could just barely make out a pair of pointy ears hidden beneath the silvery tresses of hair, and reminded him of the elves for the fairy tales of his childhood. _'I failed them, as well as their child, as I couldn't protect him from harm.'_

It wasn't the first time he had thought like this. He had just recently returned to the village, when saw his sensei carrying a small frail-looking girl in his arms. When later had heard what happened, he become enraged at his former team-mate had done, which then quickly turned to regret.

Regret that he had been unable to see what kind of monster Orochimaru now had become.

Regret that he hadn't done more to protect his godson, who had now turned into his god-daughter.

That had been a week ago, her skin and hair now seemed to gain some life to it and her breathing became deeper, more steady and even. He drawn out of his musing when a doctor and a nurse entered the room. After the customary greetings and pleasantries, the doctor started to read from the files he had brought with him, in a monotone voice.

"The preliminary findings have confirmed that this girl is indeed Uzumaki Naruto, the results were a match with his hospital files, and he is now 100% female," the doctor stated as he started to read from his clipboard. "And due to the many experiments done him, this is a permanent change."

"We have also found that the crystal found on his forehead is actually made of Kesshōseki," the doctor then continued flipping a page. "Kesshōseki that somehow have been altered. But to do what, we do not know yet."

"The tail and plates on his back are actually modified and really dense bones," the doctor then continued to report as he flipping yet another page. "If is work some kind implanted kekkei genkai, or something else, we do not know that either yet."

"Except for that Uzumaki in fine health, a bit under nourished but nothing serious," he doctor concluded as he put down the clipboard. "That was all we found out during the preliminary test, further will be done later, but that's all we now for now. Is there any questions?"

Silence settled over the room as the occupants processed what they had just been told. It was only broken when Naruto began to stir, signalling to the rest that he was about wake up. A few moments later Naruto then let out a soft groan and he slowly opened his eyes to see to he was in a hospital bed, with a small group of people surrounding him.

As Naruto slowly blinked awake the first thing he took in was the pale sterilized light of a hospital room. Naruto turned his head to the left to see the Hokage in front of him. Revealing to everyone present, a pair of large glowing orange irises, with circle pattern in them and small white pupils in the middle. While Naruto fought to keep his eyes open in sharp light of the room, two feelings overcame him at the same time, the first being a steady ache all throughout his body, while the second being the rough scratchiness of his own throat.

He tried to speak, but all that came out was a weak croak. The nurse moved forward and took a glass of water to Naruto's mouth and tipped the glass of refreshing liquid so that his was able to drink it. Naruto greedily drank the water and let out a soft sigh and turned to face Hokage and squinted his eyes.

"J-Jiji?" Naruto managed to whisper with a hoarse throat.

"Hello Naruto, how are you feeling?" the Hokage asked.

"Tired, really tired," the former boy answered mumbling.

Naruto then noticed to the other people in the room, and started to panic slightly.

"Naruto!" the Hokage cried as soon he what happening, wrapping him up in a tight hug.

"It's ok Naruto, we're here for you." the Hokage says gently as he rubbed Naruto's back calmingly.

"Jiji, a-are these mean p-p-people?" Naruto asked stuttering as he nervously looked around, after the light that had surrounded had faded and his shivers finally died down.

"Shhh, these are GOOD people," the Hokage said in as soothing tone as possible. "And this man right here is your godfather actually."

After Naruto had calmed down he just looked warily at the white-haired man with a questioning stare, to which Jiraya just nodded and ruffled his hair. But he started he panicking again when the doctor tried to do some medical checks on him. He calmed down again when the Hokage assured him that he was not in any type of danger, and that he would beside him the whole time.

 **/|~{ (-I-) }~|\**

A week had passed since Naruto woke up, he had spent the week getting probed and examined to determine what results Orochimaru's experiments had on the child. They had found that Naruto's body now was naturally very flexible, he was able to bend at inhuman angles that even seasoned ninjas could not match without some extreme training. Not only that, but he also denser bones, denser and stronger muscle fibres, stronger and tougher tendons and organs, then most ninjas had.

This, along with the enhanced healing factor from the Kyuubi, made his body REALLY durable, able take more punishment than most ninjas. It also made naturally strong, being somewhere around mid chunin in terms of raw physical strength, all the while looking as frail and delicate as a flower. They had also Naruto also had found out that he had immense chakra reserves, but that was probably just because he was a Uzumaki, along with being the jinchūriki of Kyuubi, instead anything Orochimaru may have done.

"Hello to you, Naruto. How was your morning?" the Hokage asked, as he entered the room. Jiraya was already there, sitting in a chair beside the bed.

"Great, and I have brilliant idea to a prank, that I would your help with," Naruto said proudly.

"Oh, is that so. Let hear me it, and I will what I can do," the Hokage said.

"All right, but first could either of seal this room off," Naruto asked warily. "It's top-secret, so don't anything or anyone to ruin it."

Jiraya clearly intrigued did as his godson requested and sealed the room off.

"I have been thinking that I would be better off with a new identity and won't have to deal with the hatred of this village towards me, any more," Naruto said, after Jiraya had given him the all clear sign. "But I the problem with how I would do that, and as few know the truth, I need your help with both of that. And if blood clone was added to the mix, it make a really good prank."

The Hokage thought through for some time before assenting. "I agree that is a valid idea, that would increase the security and secrecy around you, so why not. But, Naruto did figure this all by yourself, and how did you know about a kinjutsu like blood clones?"

The blood clone jutsu, was a kinjutsu that took some of the users blood and creates a clone from it. The only thing that's different is that it's like creating a true clone, one that needs to eat, drink, sleep, and other things that we need to do. They also work like Kage Bunshin with the memory transfer portion, but only if the user absorbs the clone back into their body. Another difference was that a blood clone could be 'killed', and could stay 'dead' for about a month before it dispels. After that, then it turns back into blood and the blood forms the kanji.

"Not entirely, I had some help from the Kyuubi. It also she who came up with idea of using blood clones," Naruto said, blushing while rubbing the back head sheepishly.

It was some time during his gender transformation that Naruto discovered that he was the container for the Kyuubi. Surprisingly he taken the news well, it had helped that the intense had pain numbed his mind somewhat and the Kyuubi was tired from keeping Naruto's body from falling apart. Both the Hokage and Jiraya were fully aware of this, but they had been quiet shocked when they had first found out.

"Have you thought of name for this identity of yours?"

"Yeah, I think will myself Enju. Only Enju, no surname."

"Fire gem, a fitting name indeed. As soon I get back, fill the necessary paperwork."

"But why stop there, we could expand this idea even more," Jiraya suddenly said, his gleaming with mischief. "If I took Naru... sorry, I mean Enju with me to train for couple of years, and leaving the blood clone behind... It might help even help throw someone of their lead for a while... Especially considering there are rumours of that group a I talked about with you before. It might buy us some time with them, if they are true. This is indeed a great prank, but we must careful how to handle it."

The rest of the visit, consisted of scheming and planning, along with creating a background story for Enju. Enju would be a clan-less orphan that was saved during a raid against on Orochimaru's secret labs. Which was was the truth, when she thought about it, but all of it. She would be travelling around with her godfather until she would normally would have graduated from the academy.

And while Enju was out of the village, blood clone looking like Naruto, would be staying in the village. The clone would have a small amount of the Kyuubi's chakra sealed in it, just add to the realism of it, just in case if anyone would try to check for it. The amount would be really tiny, not enough to cause any massive havoc or destruction, but to fool anyone checking to closely, at least that was what they hoped.

 **/|~{ (-I-) }~|\**

Two month later at Konohagakure no Sato, it was a peaceful evening in the village hidden in leaves, a peaceful place one can say, probably the safest of the great five hidden villages.

People were enjoying their free time, some were shopping, some just walking, some were eating ramen and exchanging stories, a woman could be seen yelling at some poor bloke for running at her and accidentally knocking her dango down, all in all, a normal evening… but if you looked closer, you would see that things aren't always what they seem…

A child, blond with goggles on his head, in a black t-shirt and a pair of shorts, was currently running as fast as his little legs could carry him to escape a mob of people trying to beat the crap out of him. He eventually run to into an alley, not far away from the Hokage's office, to hide.

"There he is! He is went in to that alley!" a voice yells and the mob charges into the alley with weapons and blunt objects. Before the mob reached the alley, the boy had disappeared. As everyone ran around looking for him, no one noticed the kanji that said 'blood', written in blood on the ground, behind a large crate in the alley.

At the Hokage's office the Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, sat behind his desk, viewing the whole advent through an old crystal ball. He sighed in sadness and disappointment at the villagers actions. But at the same time, he was somewhat relived. Their subterfuge was working so far, and with all information about Enju and Uzumaki Naruto being classified as a S-class secrets, he hoped it would keep doing that.

He then turned around and glared at the feared enemy of every Kage. Even though fears of war, death, insanity and most possibly the destruction of everything you know and love, are pretty important - they have nothing over the fear of paperwork.

As he glared at numerous piles of paperwork littering the room, and could've sworn that he saw them grin maliciously at him. He sighed and got back to work at demolishing the numerous piles of paperwork. Hoping against hope that his efforts to stop the paperwork invasion wouldn't be in vain.

It was an hour later that the secretary, came in bearing arm loads of paperwork. The Sandaime, who had just finished the last round of torture looked up before promptly slamming his head into the desk. The secretary deposited the paperwork and quickly left the room, she left a dust trail she was going so fast. Nobody wanted to be around the Hokage when there was so much paperwork.

 **/|~{ (-I-) }~|\**

 **To Be Continued...**

 **/|~{ (- Author's Note -) }~|\**

So what did think good, bad, bland or just god awful? Leave a review and tell your thoughts.

And for those of you wondering about my other stories they may take awhile as I'm quite stuck where they are concerned, but hopefully that will pass soon.

That was form me for now, hope you had good time and hope to see you again.

/ Ryuuohjin

 **/|~{ (- Author's Note -) }~|\**


	2. Chapter 2 - Years Later

The Leaf's fire gem

 **/|~{ (- Author's Note -) }~|\**

 **Disclaimer -** The same as previous chapter.

 **Update 2016-09-15:** Fixed some things, and changed some others, nothing major.

 **Update 2018-02-05:** Fixed some things, and changed some others, nothing really major.

 **/|~{ (- Author's Note -) }~|\**

 **Chapter 2 – Years Later**

The midday sun shined down on the world from a clear, nearly cloudless sky. It was another one of the beautiful days the Land of Fire was known for. The songs of birds and the cries of cicadas could be heard flowing along with the slight breeze that flowed through the area as the critters of the forest went about facing another day of life. As the sun rays bathed the land in its light and warmth and the sounds of nature echoed through the land, three individuals were walking down a small dirt path between a deep forest and a gushing river. Their gait was easy and causal, without any unneeded stress or haste, as they took in the scenery around them.

"We're lost, aren't we?" one of the girls then asked dryly after a while, as she looked around them, after seeing the same healthy green foliage thrive in their surroundings.

Her name was Fū, and she had a petite and tomboyish figure. She was 11 years old, and had tanned skin, that made her bright orange eyes and spiky mint green shoulder length hair pop out fantastically. She was dressed in a short sleeveless white midriff shirt with fishnet armour underneath, long white armlets, fishnet shorts with a short white apron skirt over it, and carried a cylindrical object in red wrapping on her back.

The shortest person of the group just scowled, at the question.

This person was also a girl about the same age as Fū, although she could without any problem pass someone 8 year, as she had quite child-like and predatory lithe figure, with a a thin upper body but thicker, sturdy legs, and had not much in the way sexual maturity.

Her name was Enju, and she had choppy white hair, which contrasted greatly against her dark amber skin, and hid a diamond-shaped blue-green crystal, that sometimes could be glimpsed on her forehead, each time a gentle breeze blew by tussled her bangs.

She was rather short, even more so than Fū. She was about a head shorter then Fū, probably a bit more but not much. Like Fū, Enju had orange eyes, although her eyes seemed to be larger, rounder, and with wider irises. They also seemed to be more vivid and deeper in colour then Fū's, along with having white pupils and a centric pattern in them. A mesh top, along with a pair of mesh shorts covered her small frame, while a thick metal collar worn loosely around her neck, as she thought it would be good for blocking decapitation or throat slashes.

Over that she was wearing a black hood that covered her mouth, along with a matching black sleeveless dress with a white rim, with black elbow gloves covering her arms. The hood has a white flame pattern and a matching white zipper. She also wore with white thigh-highs, black shinobi sandals, with large, wide, black, and bulky looking shackles encircling her ankles. A large, black scorpion-like tail, which appeared to be mechanical, could seen moving freely, under the hem of her dress barley long enough to reach her ankles.

"Of course not. We're just… temporarily misplaced," Enju replied indignantly.

"Isn't that just a fancier way of saying we're lost?" Fū deadpanned.

"What—no!" the younger girl exclaimed. "It just means that I don't have my bearings enough to tell where, exactly, we currently are."

"In other words, we're lost."

"We are not lost! I just don't where we are!"

"Isn't that the definition of being lost."

With a huff, the shorter of them continued on, grumbling about other girl's lack of faith in her.

Fū was originally from Takigakure no Sato, the Village Hidden by Waterfalls. They had met her as she was kicked out of her home village. She was banished because the leaders of Taki had heard vague rumours about a group called Akatsuki. That they were a there a group S-class rouge ninjas that was after the bijuus. And Fū, like Enju, was a jinchūriki, meaning she contained tailed beast, a bijuu. But her case it was the seven tailed horned beetle, Nanabi no Kabutomushi.

For what Enju had heard the leaders of the village, haven't even take the time to get the rumours confirmed. Nor did it seem to matter to them that Akatsuki wouldn't be to make a move for several more years. As The Akatsuki neither had means nor the founds start hunting for any of the bijuus just yet. No, the leaders of Taki were far more concerned with the threat Fū might attract in future. It seemed like even the remote chance of being by targeted by such a group at all, was to great of a risk according to them. So the sooner they could their hands of her, the better, in their opinion.

Although officially, Fū had been transferred to Konoha as way to strengthen the bond between the two village, but all involved knew what the really truth were. Enju and Jiraiya had been passing through, with Jiraiya under the Hokage's orders to pass on what little Konoha knew of the Akatsuki. It had ended with them taking Fū with them, and now she, like Enju, was training under Jiraya to become a great kunoichi. As the years passed a firm and solid friendship had grown between them.

"Maybe we should look for a map," the last member in the group then suggested.

He was the only boy in the group, not it was easy to tell, and had been quite a few times been mistaken for a girl, as he looked quite androgynous. He had long, smooth, black hair, which he often wore loosely; heavenly pale skin and large, doe-like, dark-brown eyes. This coupled with a slender frame with delicate features, made it so he was often mistaken for a girl. He was often seen wearing a pink, sleeveless kimono, with pale red edges and decorated with small plum-coloured swirls, that went to his below his knees. Around his waist was a simple white obi tied in a bow, and his feet were clad in a pair of light brown sandals with dark straps, and with a dark-coloured choker could be seen adoring his neck. Which only enhanced his already feminine looks.

"We don't need a map. I can find out where we're going without one," Enju replied snappily.

"No, I'm pretty sure we need a map," Fū retorted.

"You know, you two are not nearly as cute now as you usually are right now."

Fū and Haku just shrugged, while Enju grumbled some more.

Haku was a part the Yuki clan in Mizu no Kuni, whose members carried the Hyoton kekkei genkai. But had went into hiding for their own safety, when the country had been plunged into a civil war. As those with a kekkei genkai were regarded with suspicion by the people of Kirigakure no Sato and the wider Land of Water due to their efficiency during times of war, and quickly became feared and hated for their abilities, and out of concern that their existence would only bring about more war. As such, persecution and even murder of anyone with a kekkei genkai had become common.

From what Haku had told his friends; her father and mother were simple farmers, that had lived a peaceful life. His parents had loved each other, and had been kind to him. Unfortunately, this had all one day changed. As one day, Haku discovered the ability to manipulate water. Amazed by this, Haku proudly showed this to his mother, who had been horrified by what she saw. She had harshly scolded and slapped Haku for displaying his ability, though she tearfully apologised to his almost immediately afterwards.

When Haku's father discovered that his wife and child possessed a kekkei genkai, he assembled a small mob of villagers. With tears flowing down his eyes, he killed her mother. He then had attempted to kill Haku. But before he could, Haku used her Ice Release to create several large ice spikes in self-defence, killing his father and the rest of the mob. Orphaned, Haku became a child who was wanted by no one and was forced to take to the cold streets and rummage through trash bins for scraps of food, even sometimes having to fight off the wild dogs that roamed the streets.

Then one particular cold winter day, the smell of snow was in the air, and a thick mist that could be seen over stretching over the horizon, obscuring the surroundings, along with the skyline. Haku were awoken from his slumber by a throbbing headache ripening just beneath his temples. Wiping the crust from his eyes with a groan, he pushed himself up from an unfamiliar bed, to find himself in an equally as unfamiliar room. He felt mild alarm, and a slight of panic.

Even more alarming was he discovered his lack of clothes. Instinctively covering himself with the blanket, he dashed towards the nearby chest of drawers where some garments had been laid out, carefully folded and quickly expedited them onto his frame, not caring that looked like they belonged to a girl, nor that they felt a little tight wearing.

Venturing towards the door with trepidation, he twisted the handle with a creak. The sight before him is blinding! Literally, because he eyes haven't adjusted to the light yet. He walked out, feeling a bit like a bat, and promptly ran into a soft body.

"Sorry! I didn't notice you were... you were..." The girl blinks innocuously as Haku slowly wrench open his eyes. Once he seem to have regained possession of his sight, the girl continues.

"How are you feeling? Are you sure you should be out of bed? You were quiet sick, you know..." Stunned, bewildered and somewhat afraid Haku just stared at her. When he then felt a small warm hand against his forehead, Haku, not one to take a chance on whether this person is here to hurt him or not, tries to run but in his haste stumbles over his own feet.

"Are you okay?" Haku's head snapped around seeing another girl, this one blocking his path back in the room. Resigned to his fate, he leans against the wall hugging his knees crying, it was like a dam had burst and all Haku could do was cry. Seeing the same reactions they had not too long ago, the girls can't help but feel pity for the young boy.

Slowly, so as to not scare the poor boy any more then he already is, they kneel in front of him to look into his eyes. In that moment they can see the pain, sorrow and despair in those brown orbs, pain they knows all to well. One of the girls reached out and hugged him, trying desperately to console him. "Shhhh, you don't need to fear us, we won't hurt you." she said as calmingly as she could, while rubbing Haku's back, thinking of the times that Jiji and her godfather had done same thing for her. It seemed to be helping, as Haku was slowly calming down.

There was a comfortable silence for a while as they just sat there. Until finally, the girl's curiousness had become to much, "My name is Enju, by the way, this my best friend Fū. We are currently travelling around with my godfather Jiraiya, when we found you collapsed with a high fever in middle of the road. At the moment we're at an inn, not far away far from Kirigakure no Sato. You been out for what we know little more then two days. Sorry about the clothes, but they're mine, don't know how they fit, hopefully they are not too small or tight. And..." But before the girl, Enju, could continue to ramble on, the other girl, Fū, took pity on the boy and promptly silenced her friend by covering her mouth with one her hands.

"You will have to excuse her, she sometimes lets her curiosity and excitement overtake her, and start rambling." Haku just stared bemused between the girls, as Enju glared and huffed behind the hand Fū had over her mouth. "But that's enough about us, what about you, what's your name?"

"H-haku, my name is Haku." he replied unsure, just happy that these girls were being nice. Even though they would probably either run screaming or try to kill him if they knew what he was. Right now he was enjoying just sitting with his head leaning on Enju's shoulder.

It had taken three days more for Haku to become completely healthy and regain his strength, which children had spent getting to each other better, talking about each of their lives, hopes and dreams. At the end of the first day Haku gotten meet Enju godfather, Jiraiya, which had scared him at first as he thought the large white-haired man looked quite imposing.

They stayed for another day for Jiraiya to finish up whatever business he had, before they moved on. So when they were walking away from the village on the fifth day, they heard footsteps behind them and when they turned around they saw the black-haired boy. They just thought he was going to say something to them but he didn't, he just stared nervously at them.

After about two miles of walking, Jiraiya had glanced back and the girls had heard him sigh, when he had looked back they saw Haku right behind them, following them like a little puppy, when he had noticed they had noticed him, he hid behind a tree and watched them from behind it. Enju had tried to get him to talk to her but he just stared at them anxiously, as if he had wanted to say something but lost the words. After a while they started walking again after trying to get him to talk but he didn't, they kept walking and from time to time they would look back to see him watching them and trying to keep up.

This kept going on until about six more miles, when he finally seemed found the words he was searching for and had asked Jiraiya if he can join them on their travels, and become ninja like Enju and Fū. But then, right before Jiraiya could say anything to Haku, Enju had stepped in between them and asked if he could come along with them, almost begging with Fū to back her up.

This made Jiraiya think for a long time, it was not often Enju or Fū had ever begged for something they wanted. Jiraiya then knew he was outnumbered now and with a sigh began explaining what meant, according to him, to be a a ninja, and asking that even though knew that would though and hard would he still want it. The boy had gained determined look on his face and agreed without hesitation. "Fine, okay. He can come…" and when he said that, Haku cheered and hugged attacked him and the girls saying "Thank you, thank you!" over and over again. The girls couldn't help but blush at this, much Jiraiya's amusement. As the years passed by, neither fast nor slow, the trio became close friends and quite a tight nit team.

They were currently on their way meet up with Enju's godfather and their sensei, Jiraya. Which was the spy master and seal master of Konohagakure no Sato, along with the Toad Sage of Mount Myōbokuzan, and one of the legendary of Sannin.

As part of their training he sent them on some minor C-ranked mission, which had pertained guarding a merchant as travelled from small village in Ta no Kuni, to another small village located in Yu no Kuni. It had been quite boring and uneventful trip. All that was left was to report and meet up with Jiraiya, which should be waiting in a small village in Hi no Kuni. At least that had been the plan, at least until the youngest of them managed to convince the other two in taking a little short cut. Which had lead them to their current predicament of being quite lost, even if Enju's pride wouldn't let her to admit to it, Fū and Haku knew the truth.

At least the weather was nice.

 **/|~{ (- II -) }~|\**

Hiruzen Sarutobi was sitting at his desk late at night, looking at the files in front of him while trying to figure out what he would do with the last of the newest genin. The files he was currently looking through were the ones for Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto. The young Uchiha, while both popular and with excellent with grades, worried the old Hokage. He could see a lot of anger and hate in young boy's cloudy dark eyes, along with a large thirst for power, which only made wizened old man fear for what the boy may do to get to the power he craved.

Naruto on the other hand was a the direct opposite of brooding Uchiha, and was a bit of an enigma classmates. To his peers, he is a third-rate ninja notorious for pulling pranks and not paying attention in class, but he still somehow always got and just below average score on each test, and kids often left him alone. Their clone gambit seemed to still be working from what Hiruzen could tell, as no one had yet suspected that the Naruto that had just graduated was just a clone.

After having created that first blood clone, they had spent some time on creating something better. The clone he and Jiraiya had created with the help of Kyuubi was a pure work of art. It had a chakra signature and heartbeats, it could even generate its own chakra, and need to eat and sleep like a regular human. It was such a completely physically realistic clone, that not even after its death Tactics and Intelligence could not tell the difference between it and a human body, unless you knew what to look for. They had actually tested that.

Unfortunately, it was a cumbersome and complex process, that took taking far too long time, for even creating one clone, for it to be practical or of any use, especially on missions. It had been marked as a S-ranked kinjutsu, that built on same principle as the Blood Clone and the Shadow Clone techniques. It required that one could use nature chakra, and had at least Kage level chakra reserves, along with much more then just be good at chakra control, and at least a good grasp of fuuinjutsu.

One also need a pint of blood, along with a chakra sample of the one you wanted to make a clone of. The jutsu itself consisted of a series of hundred different hand signs, twenty of which was completely unique to just this jutsu. Otherwise it was an almost perfect clone, that was capable of performing techniques on its own, could bleed, think for itself, wouldn't dispel after taken a hit, and lasted indefinitely even after death. But the other clone jutsus it had no had connections with their original, and it would only disappear if it was absorbed by its original, and even then a body would be left behind. Only it wouldn't be more then a flesh doll without any defining features or any traces that it had once contained chakra or even had once been alive. Being absorbed would also give the original the clones memories, along with any chakra it had left, but nothing else.

But as they had used blood and chakra from after she had become Enju, and not Naruto, the clone was in the image of Enju. Which was why the clone was under a constant Henge of how they pictured Naruto would have looked like if nothing would have happened. It was mostly based how they knew how his parents looked while they grew up, and to make all the more believable a small part of the Kyuubi's chakra, had sealed in it as they had originally had planned to do with blood clone, but they had changed their minds on that. While clone was fully aware of that it was a clone, as it had all of Enju memories up to its creation, it hadn't stopped it from living life to its fullest.

With a shake of his head Hiruzen decided it was time to give up trying to organize the teams and go with his first plan. And with that he called forth the four remaining people who had expressed an interest in being this years Jōnin-sensei. Appearing before were three of the four shinobi he had called. 'Well I never expected Kakashi to arrive on time' he had thought.

Looking at the four Jōnin directly in front of him, he nods to the two to the right. One being his bearded chain-smoking son Sarutobi Asuma, the next being the genjutsu mistress of Konoha Yuhi Kurenai. Passing two files over to them, he says, "Congratulations, you are now the senseis for team 8 and team 10." Turning to Asuma, "Your team consists of the second coming of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. Kurenai you got the tracker team you asked for."

After hearing what their Hokage told them, they both beaming, happy that they go the teams that they had wanted, with a nod they both left the room to study their teams capabilities. Watching them go Hiruzen turned to the last the person that remained in his office. An ex-ANBU, a past student of the Yondaime Hokage.

Hiruzen sighed and looked at him, "Kakashi," he said "you will be given squad 7, a frontal assault team." Passing the folder over, Kakashi opened it to see the who was on his team.

"But I want you a keep eye this one," Hiruzen said, point at the file of last loyal Uchiha in the village. "His psyche profile have me worried, I'm afraid in his search for power to kill his brother he might turn his back on the village, just get to it. I want you too make sure that won't happen."

Kakashi just nodded in affirmation, before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

With that done the aged Hokage look out they out of large, windows of his office. Now there were only three genins left, and he exactly who to assign as their teacher. But he had already an idea of who, he been training them for years, so why not make them an official team, under his command.

He would only need a little bit of convincing.

 **/|~{ (- II -) }~|\**

 **TBC**

 **/|~{ (- II -) }~|\**


	3. Chapter 3 - New and old teammates

**The Leaf's fire gem 3**

 **/|~{ (- Author's Note -) }~|\**

 **Disclaimer -** The same as previous chapter.

 **Update 2018-02-05:** Fixed some things, and changed some others, nothing really major.

 **/|~{ (- Author's Note -) }~|\**

 **Chapter 3 – New and old teammates**

Nju was a small farm village that was straddled the border between Hi no Kuni and Ame no Kuni. What had once a great city, a mecca for shinobi and civilian alike during the warring clans' era, was now a place of ruins due to the perennial battles that took within and around it's parameters. What now exist were the surviving descendants of Nju's founders, a small population that lives amongst the bygone era of relics, here from the ashes a fishing village has risen. This was where Jiraiya had told to meet his students to meet him after they had finished their mission.

Jiraiya was currently briskly walking through the streets of the run down village with a confident smirk on his face, following a faint scent of perfume that lingered in the air, tantalizing his senses with the promise of lovely delights… and maybe some interesting information, who knows, but that wasn't chief on his mind at the moment. Even if he knew that he should probably meeting up with his god daughter and her friends today first, but they could wait for a while. The brats needed to learn the value of patience anyway, so this would be a good lesson for them.

So he marched on, ignoring the many eyes he could feel gazing at him from the shadows, just daring them to try something as he followed his nose. Finally, he found his destination; a small tavern in a similar state of disrepair as the surrounding buildings. The building was shaped like an L, a warn lantern hung by its door. There were huge spots on its roof that missed tiles and the building and its doors were riddled with cracks. It was in slightly better condition than the surrounding buildings though, lacking holes large enough to peer in through like they did.

Taking a whiff, the Sannin nodded. "Ah ha, that perfume is coming from in here."

Sliding the worn door open, he stepped inside. It seemed to be in slightly better condition on the inside. Still, it was a rather dull looking place; no matter where you looked everything was a dark colour. The walls were covered in black tarps except for the fusuma door at the back wall and the small bar only had four booths. However, what drew his attention was that the bar was full of women, six and all of them mostly wearing black, sleeveless vests and matching dark pants. The only exceptions being the apparent bartender, who wore a pink business suit, along with two women at a booth.

The bartender was a pale woman who had short, straight brown hair that fell just below her chin and black eyes with her lips painted a deep crimson. She leaned on the bar, turning at the sound of the door opening and welcomed Jiraiya into her establishment. Jiraya then noticed that there was a large crowd of people in one of the corners of the tavern.

In the middle of the crowd sat a girl, that was about eighteen years old, sitting serenely and drinking tea. She was dressed in a snow-patterned blue yukata with a pink obi, and a yellow string wrapped around her waist, holding it together. Her hair was white as new fallen snow, and put in a tight bun, that held together by a pair of decorative kanzashi with small silver bells, that tingled slightly each time she moved her head. Displaying a thin, slender neck, and in the front two long bangs that went past her slim, narrow shoulders, framing a sweet and youthful face with soft feminine features, a cute little nose, and full, soft lips. Jiraya stared at her pristine, delicate, ivory skin, that looked like it would break with even the lightest of touches.

Along with her inviting silver eyes, and noted that her yukata, whether by purpose or accident, seemed to fit her body very well- accentuating her curvaceous body, making it clear that her figure was a perfect mix between lean, firm muscle and soft, feminine curves at her waist and chest, her hips were brought out by her obi, and being especially tight around the chest are.

To be exact, her chest seemed to be just large enough for her yukata to hold. It seemed to wobble ever-so-slightly as she breathed in, her eyes closed, showing a pair of pale blue lids, before taking in another sip of tea. He noticed her thin arms that ended in a pair of small, delicate hands with long slim fingers, and beautiful blue painted fingernails.

"Beautiful…." Jiraya generation muttered, as he stood there simply hypnotised by the sight.

"You know, I find it I little weird you've been standing there and looking at me for a while now," the girl stated, her face were suddenly right in front of Jiraiya's, however, he didn't flinch. Her voice was soft, light, even seductive and mature sounding. "Do you like what you see?"

As the girl kept talking to Jiraiya, small hands began to carefully rifle his pockets, when they had found what wanted and started to retreat. "Better luck next time." Jiraiya said as he suddenly grab them around the wrist and threw them forward, all in a quick fluid motion. A pair of loud crashes could be heard as Haku and Fū hit floor with a grunt. A poof was then heard as the beautiful young was replaced with Enju, much to the many of the bar goers surprise and dismay.

As the crowd around them dispersed, Haku And Fū started to get up from the floor, joining Enju and Jiraiya at the table. "Order up kids, I bet you're hungry." Jiraiya told them, and with a nod they looked at the menu.

 **/|~{ (-III-) }~|\**

In Konohagakure no Sato, at the Ninja academy a small boy could peeking out of a classroom door. He had bright yellow hair, sky-blue eyes, and was clad in orange jumpsuit. Turning back to the other two children in room, he said "Why is our team 7 Sensei so damn late? All the other teams left with their Sensei, even Iruka-Sensei has left..."

"Naruto, just sit down or something." A pink haired girl which answered him, irritated.

"Hey Naruto, what are you doing?" the girl screeched.

Naruto snickered as he arranged his prank. The chalk eraser was carefully placed in the slight opening of the door. "That's what you get for being late!"

The pink haired girl sighed again. "I'm not involved."

"Like a Jounin is going to fall for such a stupid booby trap." muttered the other child, which was brooding dark haired boy.

Just then a white haired man came in and the eraser fell on his head.

Once the chalk cloud had disappeared the man's face was revealed. Well, only one grey eye became visible. His left eye was covered by his forehead protector and he wore a mask to cover the rest of his face.

Naruto burst out laughing. "Hahahaha! You fell for it! You fell for it!"

The pink haired girl fidgeted nervously. "I tried to stop Naruto, Sensei, but..."

The Uchiha only stared at the man as if he couldn't believe this was to be his teacher.

The Jounin didn't let this all bother him.

"Hmm. How can I say this? My first impression... I don't like you guys."

Three pairs of shoulders dropped slightly dejectedly.

"Meet me on the roof."

 **/|~{ (-III-) }~|\**

Back with Jiraiya, as the kids ordered, and the food was brought to them quickly, and as they ate, the children began to regale the Sannin with the tale of their mission. Enju tended to be more animated then Fū or Haku, but they still added their own flare to telling the story, their tones matching the events and captivating the listener's attention. Jiraiya listened silently, nodding at the appropriate times, and grinning with approval at the other points. Near the end of their story, something was caught in his peripheral vision, it was a woman, but just not any woman.

She was of average height with brown eyes and waist-length blonde hair with shoulder-length bangs framing both sides of her face. She wore a grass-green haori with the kanji for "gamble" written in black on the back, inside a red circle. Underneath she was wearing a grey, kimono-style blouse with no sleeves, held closed by a broad, dark bluish-grey obi that matched her pants. Her blouse was closed quite low, revealing her sizable cleavage. Her feet were adorned with open-toed, strappy black sandals with high heels and red polish on both her fingernails and toenails. She also wore a soft pink lipstick. She was none other than Senju Tsunade, a.k.a. Slug Princess and the last of the Legendary Sannin.

Along with her was another fair-skinned woman of average height, but she more slender build then Tsunade, with black eyes and shoulder-length hair with bangs that covered her ears and framed her face. She donned a long bluish-black kimono with white trimmings, held closed by a white obi, and open-toed sandals with low heels. Cradled to her chest was Tonton, Tsunade's pet woman was Kato Shizune, Tsunade's apprentice.

Many years ago, Tsunade had left the Hidden Leaf after the Third Shinobi World war. The death of her younger brother Nawaki and lover Dan were too much to bare. Shizune was Dan's niece and with no other living relatives, she took it upon herself to look after the young girl. Over the course of a few years, Tsunade had trained Shizune in the Shinobi Arts and medical Ninjutsu, moulding her into a fine kunoichi. In return, Shizune acted as the Sannin's overseer.

Tsunade was notorious for her reputation as a terrible gambler, thus earning the title "The Legendary Sucker." The woman had incurred such a debt that she had yet to repay that most would've find themselves thrown behind bars long ago. During their time away from the village, Shizune often worried about Tsunade's constant gambling, losing money and then borrowing more. It was only because of Shizune's wit and voice of reason that kept her mentor out of jail. That, and the Tsunade's colossal strength.

"Tsunade!" Jiraiya yelled, he was actually surprised at seeing her here.

Tsunade's head jerked up, and Haku could tell by the blush on her cheeks that she was well on her way to wasted. "Jiraiya?!" she shouted, really and truly confused at seeing him there, with couple of kids too boot.

"How long has it been Tsunade?" he greeted her as she approached their table.

"Good evening." Haku greeted the older brunette quietly.

"Good evening as well. I am Shizune, you are?" Shizune introduced herself with a soft smile.

"I'm Haku, she over there Fū, while the other one is Enju." Haku introduced the all of them, the girls waving from their side.

"Jiraiya." Grumbled the blond. "Why are you at a place like this?" 

"Just passing through while we were travelling."

"Let's not play games Jiraiya. Just what do you want?" Tsunade barked, discreetly pressing a hand over where her liver would be, and performing her detoxification jutsu. Now of clear head and sound comprehension, the blush now completely gone from her face, she glared at her old teammate. Jiraiya steeled himself ever so slightly, just as Enju and Fū looked up with interest.

"I'm not lying, believe it or not, we really just passing though." Jiraiya assured her. "Meeting you here really is a pure coincidence. So how have been doing lately?"

"Who is she?" Enju interrupts before any reply could made, with her curiosity piqued.

"This is Senju Tsunade, granddaughter the Shodaime Hokage, and like me is a member of the legendary Sannin." Explained Jiraiya. "She is also greatest medical ninja in all of the nations."

"Is she really? Are you sure?" Enju asks looking highly doubtful. "Shouldn't she be around 50 years old like you? She surely doesn't look like a granny?"

"You've taken on even more brats Jiraiya? And here I thought you learned your lesson..." Tsunade mumbled, knocking back a shot smoothly.

"Well, you know I can't help myself. Beside her the green haired brat and the one beside her is also mine." he corrected, ruffling Enju's white hair, and as he did.

Tsunade thought she could briefly catch something glinting slightly on the girl's forehead, but as wasn't sure, she put that in the back of her mind for now.

 **/|~{ (-III-) }~|\**

Back at Konoha, on the roof of the Ninja Academy.

"Well, let's begin with introducing yourselves." began the Jounin.

"What do you want to know, Sensei?" asked the pink haired girl.

"How about your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future and things like that."

"Isn't it considered rude to ask someone for their name without giving yours first?" the blonde haired boy asked.

"Yeah, why don't you introduce yourself to us first?" the pink girl asked sceptically.

"Agree, and you kinda look suspicious..." the blonde said.

The Jounin shrugged, looking completely bored. "Fair enough. Well, my name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future... Hmm. And I have a lot of hobbies."

The girl sweat dropped. "So all he told us is his name?"

"Yes," he said with a hidden smile. Now let me hear from all of you. Why don't we start with the one dressed like a street cone."

"You have something against orange?" Naruto asked in a friendly voice.

"Not at all! I sometimes paint my bullseyes that colour to make them easier to see." Sasuke snorted and Sakura laughed out loud. Naruto kept smiling but his eyes were not in tune with his mouth. ' _You're not nearly as good at hiding your feelings as you think Naruto.'_

"Now it's your turn. You start, blondie."

Ignoring the reaction of his new teammates .With a big grin Naruto spoke up in a light carefree voice. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, training, and the old man. What I like even more is... naahh... never mind. What I dislike is anyone who hates me for reasons that have no power over. My dream is... I have two actually, I want to make the Hokage and another person proud of me. And I want to be Hokage myself one day."

"Why?" Kakashi asked judiciously.

Naruto broadened his smile. "So that I can punish all ninja who are more than ten minutes late to any meetings."

That got light laughs from both Sasuke and Sakura. Kakashi just stared at him.

"My hobbies… pranks I guess…"

The Jounin rubbed his hair, and decided to let it go, but there was something about Naruto that was… troubling. "Next is the brodder."

The black haired boy grunted and answered. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are tons of things I dislike but I don't really like much. And… I don't want to use the word 'dream' but… I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan, and to kill a certain man."

The pink haired girl blushed at the boy, while Naruto looked uncomfortable. Kakashi frowned.

' _About what I expected,'_ Kakashi thought a bit sadly. "Ok. And lastly, the pinkie."

"Uhm, my name is Haruno Sakura. My dream is…" she looked at Sasuke and began to giggle. "What I like is…" she again looked in Sasuke's direction only to burst into a fit of giggles.

Kakashi sweat dropped.

"What I hate is… well... I don't really hate anything or anyone I guess."

"Well that was certainly enlightening. Ok, that's enough of that." said Kakashi stoically.

"What will our first mission be sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Actually it won't be a mission. First we are going to do something with just the four of us."

"What? What?" asked Naruto energetically.

"Survival training. "

 **/|~{ (-III-) }~|\**

 **TBC**

 **/|~{ (-III-) }~|\**


	4. Chapter 4 - Test & Training

**The Leaf's fire gem**

 **/|~{ (- Author's Note -) }~|\**

 **Disclaimer -** The same as chapter one.

Have had this done before chapter done long before Christmas, but I didn't quite like it, still don't. Wanted more Kakashi and Tsunade, but upload it now because I can't see how make it better, even if I'm still not completely satisfied with it.

 **Update 20017-03-05:** Fix some things and rewrote others.

 **Update 2018-02-05:** Fixed some things, and changed some others, nothing really major.

 **/|~{ (- Author's Note -) }~|\**

 **Chapter 4 – Test & Training **

Fū had always been an early riser, however given the hour, she was still only dressed in her underwear. White panties hugged her hips, and her chest was bare while she waited patiently for the sun to rise over the horizon. The sky had begun to take on a fiery rainbow of colours, a show only scheduled twice a day. When she had been younger, she'd decided that the earlier show was the better of the two. The soft chirping of birds recently awake and the rare, restful silence of the island made it leagues more enjoyable than its later counterpart. As she watched sun slowly raise, and illuminate the sky, she thought back on the happenings of the evening before.

While Tsunade and Jiraiya had started to drink while they playing catch up, Haku and the girls were chatting with Tsunade's apprentice, Shizune. That was until the Sannin had for some reason started to talk about the Hokages. Tsunade, who which by now were quite drunk, had started to insult them and calling them all idiots for throwing away their life's so easily. This had continued until started to about the third Hokage, that had been when Enju had snapped, and had started to attack Tsunade verbally, to which Tsunade retaliated. It had then snowballed quite from there, ending in a showdown between the two of them of the streets outside the tavern.

As expected of a sannin versus a genin battle, Tsunade was the one that was clearly superior in their little bout. Even though she was clearly drunk, and having spent several years doing nothing but gambling and drinking, she was still quite formidable. But that didn't mean Enju got in some hits herself. While Enju possessed an abnormal amount of strength and durability for someone of her age and size, but it mostly thanks to Tsunade underestimated her, and her unpredictable and risky fighting style. Along with her being at good at thinking on her feet, along her persistent if nothing else, that lasted as long as she did.

Fū was drawn from her thoughts by a quick knock on the door, which left her both confused and curious as to the identity of the knocker. She quickly threw on some clothes and went to open the door. On the was Haku, who accompanied by Shizune, Fū raised an questioning eyebrow, which Haku immediately answered. "I was wondering if you were awake and up for a training session, Shizune-san here, has agreed supervise and help us both a bit."

"Sure, why not. I have nothing better to do at moment, in any case," Fū replied after moments thought. "Shizune-san, do you happened to know how Enju is? She took quite a beating yesterday."

"Yes, Fū-san. Enju-san, is actually quite okay, despite beating she took. She is mostly heavily battered and bruised, with a few fractures in some of her bones," Shizune informed Fū with a small polite smile. "And while nothing it's nothing too serious, she will still need complete bed rest for a while, whether she will like it or not."

"That's great to hear," Fū then said relived, switching over small talk as they head out to small glen outside of the village.

 **/|~{ (- IV-) }~|\**

The bright light shone down on the peaceful village Konoha. Birds were chirping and the sky a full blue. Naruto arrived at Training Ground 7 at eight, only to find Sakura and Sasuke, whose faces looked like zombies, glaring at him.

"Where the heck have you been, you idiot?" Sakura growled irritatingly.

"Ichiraku's, of course," Naruto answered disarmingly. "You don't expect me to go to fight with an empty stomach, unless I couldn't help it, do you?"

"Kakashi-sensei told us not to have breakfast!" she screeched angrily.

"Well, the 'no breakfast' part was only a suggestion, now wasn't it? At lest that's what I remember." Naruto shrugged. "Besides, he also said this training was a test. I don't know about you, but I need my body at the top level before taking any test."

Hearing that, Sakura didn't ask anymore. She just sat down and rubbed her growling stomach, trying her best to calm it down. Not only had she skipped breakfast today, but she had also skipped dinner yesterday.

"Here."

She raised her head and widened her eyes when she saw a meat bun in front of her face.

"Eat up. I don't have much money, so I could only buy these. It's not much, but still better than an empty stomach, right?" Naruto grinned while throwing another one to Sasuke. "You didn't have breakfast too, did you? Eat up!"

Sasuke scowled. "I don't need your pity."

"You got me wrong, this is not pity. It's selfishness, because I want pass this test," Naruto snorted. "If Kakashi-sensei is anything like I've heard about him, I wouldn't able pass this all by myself. But would need your help. For if he is as strong as rumours says he is, then we must throw everything we have at him, if we even want to have a slightest chance against him."

Those words finally got Sasuke's attention. "What do you know about him?" he demanded.

"Well," Naruto started, "Kakashi-sensei is well known all over the Elemental Countries as 'Kakashi of the Sharingan' or 'Copy ninja Kakashi', due to the fact that he has a Sharingan hidden under his forehead protector," Sasuke's body stiffened against this information, "and he is said to have used it to copy over a thousand jutsu from his enemies. He is one of the very famous shinobi who brought victory to the Leaf in the Third Great Shinobi World War, together with the Fourth Hokage himself, which was his Jōnin-sensei. I have also heard he is an ex-ANBU."

"No way," Sakura gasped. "Our sensei is that strong?"

"But how did he have the Sharingan? He's not an Uchiha," Sasuke questioned.

"Dunno," Naruto shrugged. "But we if just a part of this is true, it is clear that Kakashi-sensei is not someone we can afford to underestimate. Especially if we want pass this test."

Sasuke didn't say anything for a while. Then, he grabbed the bun and devoured it in one gulp.

Over an hour passed before Kakashi in a plume of smoke arrived, much to the genins dismay.

"Sorry guys, I got lost on the road of life."

"A very problematic that road can be, or so I have heard. It seemed to take a well-educated mind and a finely tuned body to traverse it with ease," Naruto quipped as their teacher arrived.

"You know, that was the lamest excuse I've ever heard in my life, sensei," Sakura deadpanned, already quite irritated with their Jōnin-sensei's laid attitude.

"Is that so? Hmm..." Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow. "Then I promise next time you won't hear it anymore from me."

"You're not gonna be late again?" Sakura asked hopefully.

"No, I'll just make a different excuse," the cyclops eyesmiled.

The three genin groaned.

"You have until noon to take these bells from me," Kakashi started while pulling out an alarm clock and two small bells. "Those who cannot get a bell by noon get no lunch, and will be tied to one of those stumps while I and your teammates eat right in front of you. And the one who doesn't have a bell fails, and will be sent back to the Academy."

"But sensei, you said that we're allowed to use weapons, didn't you. Isn't that a bit dangerous?" Sakura asked clearly quite worried.

"Oh, you won't be able to touch me if you don't come at me with intent to kill," the Jōnin waved her off with a shrug. "Now, start when I say…"

With a flick of his hand, five shuriken flew from Naruto's place towards Kakashi. Then without any pause, Naruto pulled a kunai out from his shuriken pouch…

…only for his arm to be bent around, the point of the kunai aimed at his neck.

"Hasty, eh?" the voice of Kakashi rose behind him. "I haven't said 'start' yet."

Too fast, Sasuke and Sakura couldn't help sharing the same thought. I can't even see him moving.

"I thought it was worth a try, you know. But I was apparently not even some place near."

"Good attempt, but you were right, you were far from near. Well then, now it's time to start."

He then burst into smoke, and the genin leaped away from the clearing.

 **/|~{ (- IV-) }~|\**

Back at the inn in an room across from Fū's, a particular white haired and brown skinned girl, had managed to work her way back to consciousness, and was moving to figure out exactly what was occurring. A gentle fragrance wafted by, filling her nose with its soothing scent. It smelled so familiar, but she found herself unable to discern what it was. A dull, throbbing pain registered, breaking off her train of thought. She opened her eyes one at a time and then blinked, trying to figure out where she was and how long she'd been asleep. She found herself starring up at an unfamiliar ceiling, Enju groggily looked around.

She seemed to be lying in a bed in a room she did not recognize, which should have rang several alarms in her head, but she was oddly unable to bring herself to mind.

"O-oww…" she winced, reaching for her back. "Uhn… huh? Blankets… Bandages? Where is this…? What happened?" Enju groaned softly to whoever was around to listen.

The moment she brought those questions up, several scenes flooded into her mind, brutally reminding her of how she had picked a fight with one of the legendary sannin. And while Tsunade had been quite drunk, Enju had still badly lost the fight. Proving that even with her rusty skills and drunk as a judge, she still had no problem with dealing with Enju. Although Enju still had managed to land some hits on the Slug Princess. As despite Enju's fighting style being somewhat rough and unrefined, it worked surprisingly well for white haired girl. The young girl's fighting style was so chaotic that made it hard for Tsunade to predict any of her actions.

Enju attempted to sit up, straining her neck to get a better view, but before she could roll into a sitting position a man's voice interrupted her, "Don't try to get up. You've been out for a couple of hours. But that is kind of expected when picking a fight with someone of Tsunade's calibre."

Enju tried sit up anyway, but to no avail. And s she fell back, she felt all of her muscles protest, she then noticed a small bit of movement in the corner of her vision. With a groan she looked around to see a at first unknown blond with a quite large bosom.

"Well I guess you survived, if you were smart I would suggest you stay down for the time being, before you manage to make me want to change that diagnosis" Advised Tsunade in a tone that made it clear that this was not a kind suggestion. "You're in no condition for to move at the moment."

Enju whether due to the drugs or her own stubbornness chose tried instead to push herself to her up again, but was held down firmly by Tsunade with a frown. "OK, let me put it a different way, you leave this bed when I tell you to, or I tie you to it."

*sigh* "Aahhh... But I would have nothing to do..." Enju whimpered, sounding like the most adorable wounded puppy ever. She looked up at Tsunade with big, sweet, doe-like eyes. That was watery and pleading like that a wrongfully kicked puppy would have. Knees drawn up and bottom lip stuck out in an adorable puppy-dog pout, that makes it hard for the most, to not to cave and give her whatever she wants whenever she wants it.

"Cute, but no dice, so deal with it." Tsunade said slight amused and seemingly completely unaffected by Enju's puppy dog pout.

"That would be so boring... I would die of boredom..." Enju whined, letting out the tiniest of heartfelt whimpers, jutting that bottom lip out even further. The pout and kicked puppy eyes, coupled with the tears threatening to spill from her eyes, kicked up the adorableness radiating off of the girl. It would have sent shivers down her god father's spine, but Tsunade still seem unaffected.

"I said _no_ ," Tsunade said more sternly, emphasising the last word.

Enju groaned in defeat and disappointment that her best puppy eye dog techniques didn't seemed to have worked at all. So all she really could was slump together grumpily, while Tsunade began to check her over again.

 **/|~{ (- IV-) }~|\**

Soft shafts of morning sunlight illuminated the forest. Pieces of blue sky could be seen through the boughs of the tall pines. From the treetops, a burst of sparkling yellow powder flew towards young black haired boy that walked through the forest glen. The boy quickly shut his eyes, but he accidentally inhaled some of it, giving himself a heavy cough. And while his eyes were still closed and he was still preoccupied by coughing, his instincts suddenly screamed danger at him and to get out of the way. Just as a young girl with mint coloured hair and yellowish orange insect wings sprouting out of her hips flew towards him from the treetops, trying to tackle him to the ground.

Haku grunted as he blocked the charge from Fū, with said girl immediately following up with a kick which he which he dodged. Lashing out with a of his own kick at her knees, followed by a haymaker with the aim to stagger her enough to lose focus. Fū managed to twist around his attack before sending a elbow at his exposed face. Just as he was about to retaliate, Fū's knee was suddenly coming towards his face. Seeing no other way to block it, he quickly leaped backwards and away from Fū, her fist sailing mere inches from his nose as he did. They both looked at each for a moment until Fū once again lunged at him and begin spinning toward the left side of Haku.

As he dodged Haku kept track of her body movements just in case she decided pull a feint as she threw another punch. So he was fully ready for the quick jab she threw at his jaw and ducked, launching a punch of his own right into her stomach. Fū turned her fall into a spin kick, making him jump back to avoid. He threw himself at her again, this time aiming a heavy blow to her right shoulder. Fū dodges the attack and elbow Haku in the side of his ribs. Haku dove at Fū, his body a lithe blur, ebony tresses streaming out behind him as he tried to embed his fist into her gut a sucker punch. But Fū saw it coming a mile away; what she didn't see was his hand emerging from the pouch at her back-the blow had been a feint!

Fū's head quickly snapped to the right as something screamed past her face at breakneck speed, a thin slice opened upon the green-haired girl cheek. But the black-haired boy gave her no time to try and process the small wound however, his hand scything towards her neck in a devastating arc that, if successful, would surely leave an awful bruise if it connected. With a hiss her head arched backward, her hand snared his wrist in a vicious vice.

"Not bad, Fū," Haku said. "But..."

"But?" Fū challenged.

"But I can do better!" Haku scissored his legs beneath Fū, depriving them both of their balance. Fū then saw his heel come sweeping towards her an instant before Haku even began the motion. And in the blink of an eye, she launched herself upright, planting her knee into his stomach, all the while she pulling back her fist as the black haired boy doubled over.

Haku avoided the overhand chop and drove his elbow into Fū's side. Fū recoiled from the attack and worked through the pain of it as she went for another attack. The androgynous boy looked down just in time to see Fū spin from her back into a low sweep that would've knocked him off of his feet again. Haku jumped up over the sweep kick, but before he was able to anything else Fū quickly twisted around on her hands and delivered a powerful mule kick that sent Haku into the air like a rocket. And while Haku was still recovering she began weaving through several hand seals, followed by slamming her hands on the ground.

"Doton: Tobi Tsubute," she said as a multitude of rocks was sent from the ground to fly at Haku, but Fū wasn't done yet, as she had already began another set of hand seals.

"Doton: Dosekiryū," Fū called as a large dragon made from the ground rose to attack Haku.

"Fūton: Daitoppa ," Haku cried after doing his own set of seals, blowing away all the rocks amied at him. And after landing on ground again, he ran through another set of hand seals.

"Hyōton: Hyōgan Dōmu," quickly freezing the surrounding air and creating an sturdy ice dome around him just as the dragon made of earth reached him.

"You almost had me there," Haku said with a grin. "It was close but not close enough."

"That just means I have try harder doesn't it," Fū replied with grin of her own.

The two charged at each other again, punches and kicks flew. Some blows struck, some were blocked, and others were countered or dodged. Haku's strikes were fast and precise, while Fū's blows were heavy and wild. The forest glen was filled with the sounds of the two fighting for the next half hour. When it was over Haku was on one knee breathing heavily, covered in scratches and bruises. Fū had a few small wounds, but was still relatively fresh compared to Haku.

In a tree nearby overlooking glen, Shizune had been watching the children sparring. From what Shizune could tell they about equal to each other. But still in a way, Haku was stronger then Fū, at least that was what Shizune thought. Haku had better control over the ability to gather chakra from every part of the body and use it at the right time. Although Fū made up for her lack of control with her immense amount of chakra and stamina, she just need to learn to harness it better. While Haku on the other hand, what he was lacking in stamina and chakra reserves, he more then enough made up for it with skill and control. And what he lacked in raw power he more then made it up with finesse. Which made them both of them were pretty much equal in power, at least in Shizune's eyes.

 **/|~{ (- IV-) }~|\**

Haruno Sakura just sat and stared at her rice.

Of course – of course, that orange-clad idiot had gotten himself tied up. Still, privately, she felt that she had done worse. Like always, even in the academy, no matter who did the worst, Naruto was always the one made an example of. And this time, she really felt guilty about it.

After all, Naruto had actually fought Kakashi. Heck, Naruto had actually touched Kakashi-sensei, and nearly touched a bell. But she hadn't lifted a finger. She hadn't even seen their teacher. She'd just fallen for some pitiful genjutsu. Sasuke would never look at her at this rate! She sneaked a glance at Sasuke, but her eyes were drawn instead to the orange form of her other teammate.

If only Kakashi-sensei had tied her to the stump. Then she wouldn't feel so bad right now.

Sakura looked down sadly on the lunch box their sensei had given her again, she wasn't feeling all that hungry. She was on a diet in any case. That chicken didn't look so appealing, either. And the vegetables were simply covered with oil. That Naruto... He sure looked like he could use the food.

It was in times like these that Sakura realized, most harshly, that she was a follower, not a leader. She did not dare initiate things, as she rather flowed the masses. Even in her one most defining pastime, that of loving Sasuke, she had only been part of a crowd of girls who'd done the same.

If Sasuke offers Naruto his food, I will too, she decided resolutely, and only then. She didn't want to ruin any chances she had. So Haruno Sakura forced the guilt back down and glared at her rice. All the while hoping that Sasuke would say something.

 **/|~{ (- IV-) }~|\**

While his teammate was running medical checks over his god daughter, Jiraiya was thinking back to Enju's fight with Tsunade, as well as pondering about the missive he had just received from the Hokage. It was a request from him to officially be his god daughter and her friends Jōnin-sensei, and once again creating a Team Jiraiya. The missive had pointed out that it really wouldn't change anything, as they were already unofficially his team anyway. And while he agreed with old sensei that he would know their abilities best, he was still somewhat unsure...

Jiraiya had never really quite liked the fighting style his god daughter had developed, he couldn't deny that it seemed to fit her quite well, and that her chosen fighting style worked for her, especially since she had decided to specialize in CQC. While he personally only someone without any concern to their own self preservation would use a style, as the fighting style was bizarre at best, suicidal at worst. As it left such obvious and fatal openings in her stance as a way to fight. And yet, when challenged, there was a strange sort of sense in it. The openings she left would attract an experienced shinobi to it like flies to honey, even the more bloodthirsty ones. And they would fall completely into the trap that those openings created. Even an Uchiha would have a hard time combating that, if she could fully master it that is.

Enju, while a brawler at the core, had early found out that against stronger and more experienced fighters, just being really strong and durable didn't help as much as she had first thought. So she had instead began incorporating her natural flexibility of her body, along with training up her reflexes and and reaction speed to help with this. This in turn had grew into fighting style that would best be described as being a counter hitter.

It was mostly built around the strategy to dodge incoming attacks using high reflexes, while then delivering a fast counter attack towards the opponent, a high risk fighting style that relied heavily on her reaction speed. Along with confusing the enemy with seemingly pointless movements, and striking during the distraction. It was suicidal. It was sneaky. It had the potential to be amongst one of the most terrifyingly effective fighting styles Jiraiya had ever seen, as it played on the fact shinobi had a habit of going in for the kill when they needed to.

Fū had similar fighting style to Enju, but she was more of a mid-range fighter. Her style being relying more on overwhelming or ambushing her opponents with her ability to fly incorporated. While on the other hand Haku, preferred long range combat. In close, his fighting style relied more on hit and run, based mostly on agility, precision and high speeds. Since he knew he couldn't hope to compete with his friends in either raw strength, stamina, or endurance. He had therefore focused high speed combat, delivering precise strikes on vital areas.

When Jiraiya had trained the girls and Haku, he had mostly focused on the basics, concentrating more on hammering the basics into them, to give them a solid foundation with firm grounding to stand on, which they could build on later. This meant he mostly taught them, physical conditioning, taijutsu and chakra control. He had taught them hand seals, and made them practice them over and over again, until they could do them without much thinking. He had also checked their chakra natures some time ago, although he had yet started to train them in any type of nature manipulation, but it was always good to know ones affinity.

Fū seemed have earth as main affinity, along with a quite minor lightning one. While Haku's Ice element, was equal measures of water and wind. Enju on the other hand, had a strong wind affinity, but the experiments Orochimaru had done on her changed that slightly. It had to do with the pieces of Kesshōseki that been implanted into her chakra system. While they hadn't changed her chakra nature, they were constantly transforming any chakra around to fire natured chakra. That over the years had increased her aptitude for fire based jutsu, and nurtured a growing affinity for fire. It had also raised her normal internal body temperature, making her, incidentally, was a walking, talking furnace. She had also gained some slight resistance to fire and heat, making her being able to shrug most of the damage done by fire jutsus up to D-rank.

Jiraiya had also taught them the importance of meditation, and it explained how it would help clear and sharp mind their. He also told them that one can make decisions quicker and notice their surroundings better as they have no distractions in their thoughts, which Enju thought to be advantageous, even if the meditation part was boring. Even though Jiraiya had admitted that he hadn't taken up meditation until he was forced to while he was learning Senjutsu, which in time had become a hobby and a habit which he still possessed till this day.

Another thing he taught them was calligraphy. As he had told them that, not only would it make anything they wrote neater and more legible. But it would also be so ever useful, if they had ever wanted to learn fuinjutsu. Another benefit of learning calligraphy was that their fingers had grown more nimble. Which not only helped helped them use most blades and handheld weapons, but also the practice of precise finger movements makes for better accuracy.

Jiraiya had also tried get them to master the basic three academy, along with the shunshin no jutsu. All ninjutsu required vocalisation and hand seals to help focus ones energies into that particular attack or defence. While non vocalized techniques were possible, the risk of a single distracted thought causing the jutsu to go haywire was often far too dangerous, especially under stress and the heat of battle. Only a ninja with a disciplined of mind, would be able pull it of without any risk. And only when you could do a jutsu without the need of any seals or vocalisation, could you truly claim having mastering a jutsu Jiraiya told them.

Haku managed to completely master kawaramari no jutsu, and the rest he could do without vocalisation and with just a one-handed sign. Neither Enju nor Fū had managed yet to create a bunshin, but they could do a basic shunshin without vocalisation and only a hand sign. They could also do the kawarami no jutsu with just a hand sign, but they still need vocalisation. And while Haku was way superior in chakra control then the girls, they beat him easily in terms of reserves. The girls even beat him in just raw chakra capacity, but as they were they jinchūriki, it was kind of expected. As were there horrible control over their massive reserves, which mostly why he had mostly focused on training their chakra control.

 **/|~{ (- IV-) }~|\**

The clone that was Uzumaki Naruto was sitting on top of the Hokage Monument, on top of carved stone head of the Fourth Hokage to be exact. It often came here to think. It was a secluded place and had a wonderful view of the village. As sometimes it needed to be reminded why it did what it did. It was currently contemplating these latest events in its life, it had just recently became a genin and a part of Team 7, under the seasoned Jōnin Hatake Kakashi.

The clone was still quite unsure about if it really was alright, and if really it should be in a team at all. And while it was a very advanced and complex type of clone, it was still just a clone, and it was well aware of it. It thought it was quite a miracle that no one had discovered their rouse yet. Not even that it was under a henge, had yet been discovered yet. But it still thought as it had to disappear one day soon, if their plan would continued as it had. But the Hokage had assured the clone, that it was no problem at all. As ninjas had short life expectancy either way, so it was really no problem at all.

It always didn't like pretending to be some one it was not. Not to mention it had been quite awkward for it to pretend to have a crush on another girl, especially her own teammate, even if it had been for a short while. It may not be book smart like Sakura, but it was street smart, and that had kept it alive growing up when it counted. It didn't know why, but it was kind of disappointed somehow, that no one had seen through at least the henge that it was constantly wearing. Which was making it feel kind of lonely too. But as things were it couldn't be helped either way.

 **/|~{ (- IV-) }~|\**

 **TBC**

 **/|~{ (- IV-) }~|\**


	5. Chapter 5 – Training & Missions

**/|~{ (- Author's Note -) }~|\**

 **Disclaimer -** The same as chapter one.

 **Update 2018-02-05:** Fixed some things, and changed some others, nothing really major.

 **Update 2018-02-05:** Rewrote some parts, while added or removed something to others.

 **/|~{ (- Author's Note -) }~|\**

 **Chapter 5 – Training & Missions **

The first hints of sunlight filtered through the window as the sound of birds awakening steadily grew. The quiet calm of the early morning was the ideal situation for the young white-haired girl, sound asleep in a warm bed. The gentle warmth of the light and the chirping bird songs staved off any thoughts of dragging herself from the comfort of her covers, content to bury herself further in her blankets. Although the green-haired figure standing next to her bed, however, didn't agree to that, as that person seemed to try to wake her up.

"It's too early, go back to bed." Enju groaned from beneath the covers.

A shrill shriek of a whistle then ripped through the air, sending the tweeting birds outside flying in fear as a shout of surprise drowned it out. The thump of a body hitting the floor could be heard, as the young girl tumbled out of the bed, her limbs tangled in the mess of sheets. A quiet groan of pain and frustration sounded out, as Enju tried to curl into a ball under the blankets.

"Urgh… Fū, I asked you to please stop doing that…"

The grinning face of Fū beamed down at her at best friend and teammate. Pleased that Enju was now awake, Fū moved to open the curtains, the bright light sending the young girl further into the sheets, desperate to escape the dreadful event of waking up. Turning back to the balled up form of her longtime friend, Fū smiled down at Enju eagerly, her hands on her hips in a determined stance.

"Sorry Enju, but it's time to get up. Sensei's orders, he apparently have something important to tell us. Unless you want me to get creative of course..."

The mischievousness that could be heard in the chipper voice of her friend ruined any final thoughts Enju had to return to the embrace of sleep. With a groggy groan, Enju pushed herself into a sitting position; still wrapped in the blankets, not awake enough to untangle the mess of cloth she was tangled in. Rubbing her eyes tiredly, Enju let out a big yawned as she glared at her longtime friend. Easy to say, Enju was not really a morning person and was grumpy when tired.

Sliding off the bed, Enju kneeled down and arched her back, chest flat against the floor and reaching as far forward as she could. Stretching like a cat, a series of pops echoed through the room, audible even over her groan. After having woken up properly, Enju began her morning warm-up stretches, working every joint in her body to its maximal flexibility. Exercising all her visible muscles to be hard and long, as to not appear too big or lumpy. This had been part of Enju's wake up routine for years, and while she didn't have anything against anyone with large bulky muscles. It was just she personally didn't think that kind of appearance fit her at all, preferring a more slim and toned appearance.

As Enju was going through her usual morning routine, Fū couldn't help herself staring somewhat, as she had always been kind of impressed by how very flexible Enju was naturally. Which was something that Jiraiya had helped to further develop, and had even encouraged her to work on whenever she had time.

 **/|~{ (- V -) }~|\**

At Konoha, it was a normal day, but for Team 7, today was the very first day that they were a real team and not just a prospective one. It was, therefore, this first day that its members were real ninjas and not prospective ones. Therefore today an important day and a big step forward for many, not just Team 7. Most of the new young genin were in their brightest mood at the start of this day, enjoying the first day in which they'd be allowed to reap the benefits of their long academy education. If they only knew what had waited on them beforehand.

For soon enough, almost each and every single one of them having their bright mood ruined, when they all got their first real taste of what newly graduated genin actually did. As of all those poor little kids were forced to pick up the trash in a freezing cold rivers, or forced to pick up the literal mountains of shit that gathered in the Inuzuka kennels, while others did the frankly obscene amount of groceries that the richer members of Konoha's society often tasked the retrieval of upon its genins. But that was neither here nor there, as for Kakashi really didn't care about the fate of those other teams. He wasn't sure what to think about the members of the newly created Team 7. Each of them had a problem of their own.

First, there was Uchiha Sasuke, the last "loyal" Uchiha. A brooding avenger, that along with being arrogant and power hungry, also seemed to suffer from a superiority complex, which quite common Uchiha clan, especially amongst those who had just awakened their Sharingan for the first time. This was only made worse by inferiority complex Sasuke seemed to carry around towards his brother Itachi. Kakashi knew those two would be the biggest roadblocks for any kind of teamwork to really develop. But as long Sasuke overcame those two hurdles, the rest could be worked out.

Then there was Haruno Sakura, a civilian fangirl, who he wondered if she fully knew what she really had signed up for. That, while she appeared to have good book smarts, just looking at her grades, had really nothing else going for her. Her chakra control, while good for someone of her age, Kakashi suspect that was mainly because of her small reserves.

From what he had read and seen, her stamina was deplorable, showing how little she actually trained. He would also need her to get over her crush on Sasuke before Kakashi could start to make anything usable out of her. If managed to get her a reality check at the same time even better.

Then there was the last member of his team, Uzumaki Naruto, the self-proclaimed prankster king of Konohagakure, and the son of his sensei the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, and Uzumaki Kushina. How no one yet seemed to have figured out that, Kakashi really didn't know, but then again people will only see what they want to see.

So while Naruto almost was a carbon copy of his father, with most of his mother's personality, didn't really matter to the people that refused to see it. And even though Naruto had had a hard and rough life, he still seemed to be a happy, if not quite a hyperactive child. Although there seemed to be something slightly off about Naruto.

While Kakashi had only recently realized it, but his gut told him that not everything was as they seemed with the blond. Although exactly what it was that was off he had no idea yet, but he would soon find out. He hadn't noticed it until he had begun sparring with knuckleheaded blonde, and even then he had almost missed it. It might just have been a feeling, but during that spar he got a weak, almost unnoticeable feeling of wrongness. But as the feeling had been so weak he had a hard time to pull it forth, look at it, or describe it. But Kakashi was still quite sure that there was something not quite right there, and he would find out sooner or later, he would make sure of it.

 **/|~{ (- V -) }~|\**

Haku had always known he could never really match either Fū or Enju in terms of reserves or physical prowess. Nor could he withstand the same kind of beating his friends could take. To add to that, it took him more time to heal and recover from injuries or exhaustion than any of the girls. This was something that had really bothered him when he had first started to train with them, especially after he found how big of the gap between him and his friends actually were.

Back then he had mostly seen himself as weak and useless, especially when he had compared himself to the girls. And Haku really hadn't like those feelings, not at all, not even a little bit. As Haku had first and foremost wanted to repay them somehow, for all that they had done for him. Not only had they treated him kindness and respect when no else had done so, but they also offered him their hands in friendship.

So when the girls had managed to convince Jiraiya to take him in and train him with them as well, he had been overjoyed. Although it didn't take him long to realize that while they all were about the same age, his friends were physically superior to him. While he had never liked to hurting people in the first place, but he didn't want to disappoint anyone, especially his new friends. So Haku had thrown himself into the training, afraid that they would abandon him if he couldn't keep up.

He had worked himself fervently day and night to the bone, just to make sure that Jiraiya wouldn't regret taking him in. This, of course, had worried Jiraiya and the girls, but they hadn't said anything at first. But after having worked himself into a fever, Jiraiya had stepped in and put a stop to it. This had spiked Haku's ever-present fear of being abandoned and once again all alone, inducing a mild panic attack, but after some comforting, much assurance and lot of talking Jiraiya had managed to calm down the distraught boy.

Now knowing where the problem was, Jiraiya had tried to calm the boy's fears, by telling Haku stories of his team and genin days, although it took the girls and quite time some completely calm his fears altogether. It was Jiraiya's stories of about Tsunade that sparked Haku interest the most, as the idea of being a field medic was some he could get behind. As there he saw a way to help his friends in a way that didn't involve as much fighting.

But Jiraiya only knew a little about poisons and basic first aid, but not much more, but he still tried to teach Haku what little he knew about the fields. Mostly what Haku knew about medicine and poison, came books and scrolls Jiraiya had given him for self-study. Reading was something Haku had discovered he quite enjoyed, whether it was for learning or for pleasure didn't really matter. He actually found quite relaxing, he no problem being engrossed by a book or a scroll for hours at end, and he would still be quite satisfied spending the day just like that.

This was something Jiraiya had greatly and wholeheartedly encouraged, and would from time to time let Haku pick up an extra book or two of his own choice to read when he had the time. And by now Haku had a small library worth of medical texts about plants, herbs, and human anatomy, along with some texts about cooking, even a few for pleasure reading.

It was his during studies of diverse herbs and plants, that had awakened Haku interests in cooking and the culinary arts, as he discovered that many of the plants or herbs had both medical and culinary purposes. It also allowed him to help his friends in a way outside the field of battle, which why cooking was his biggest hobby besides reading.

But it was when Haku had started to study the anatomy of the human body that the first hints of his own fighting had begun to emerge. It also because of that he had chosen to use senbons as weapons of choice in battle. Senbons were weapons that hard to use effectively, and they were rarely deadly unless tipped with poison. But a skilled user could easily use them to incapacity an enemy if you just knew where to hit. It was around this idea Haku had decided to build his burgeoning fighting style on, consisting mostly of hit and run tactics, that relied heavily on speed, precision, and fineness.

And maybe that was the reason why he was the first one of friends to pick up this latest training exercise that Jiraiya had given them. After breakfast, the old pervert had thrown two round things at them each, and on instinct, they caught them both before they could drill holes in their head. The palms of his had hands stung and Haku then looked at the objects he'd caught with slight confusion and curiosity.

It was a pair of balls. They were about the size of a peach and seemed to be made out of leather. Each of them was a different colour, with his being blue, Fū's being white, Enju's being orange. Apparently, they were going to learn how to juggle. And once they could manage two balls without a problem, they would be given a third ball. Then a fourth and fifth, followed by sixth and so on and so forth. This would continue until they each could at least until his thought had mastered it enough.

According to Jiraiya, this would help to train their had and eyes coordination, while also help their brains grasp different actions simultaneously, in other words, help it multitask. Juggling, Jiraiya had said, was an art in controlling patterns. Controlling patterns in time and space even. That this somewhat helps trying to learn high ranked techniques, as those often required you to be able to do multiple things at once.

He had also informed them that for a while Tsunade would look after them and their training, as he had just received some information he needs to check up on. And he couldn't take them with him. But it shouldn't take too long, so he would probably be back soon.

 **/|~{ (- V -) }~|\**

Back with Team 7, which were currently walking through Konoha's main street, their objective being the mission office within in the Hokage's tower. Kakashi wanted to see what his teams' reactions would be to a D rank, so he decided to be an absolute dick about it and to pick the single worst D-rank he could think of. Indeed, he was gonna give them the rudest awakening he could think of before he actually began training them. After all, he had to know if their (barely existent) teamwork would hold up under a different kind of pressure than what he'd put them under during their true genin test.

After what seemed like unending minutes, they finally got to the mission desk, where they saw the Hokage sitting behind the old worn desk.

"Team Seven reporting for a D-rank mission, Hokage-sama," Kakashi informed, blandly, clearly smirking from underneath his mask. "I want the Rescue mission. It'll be good to see if they've got what it takes."

Most chunin were apparently very used to Naruto randomly dropping on the Hokage, though he could see one or two newbies being clearly uncomfortable at the closeness that the Hokage displayed with the village jinchūriki. Newbies were always so hilarious.

"That's great, this scroll is fresh," Sarutobi said, smiling widely and gesturing with his hand to the chunin to his left, who snickered and pulled a scroll from one of the drawers. The scroll was clearly very new, as neither had the colour of the paper had started fade to yellow and had the ink only barley seemed to run dry. Somehow, it even seems to emanate a feeling of dread that had all three members of Team 7 looking at it warily.

"Okay, Team 7, we've got a very important mission today, and I need to know if you three are ready to take on a mission that would have most genin teams balk," Kakashi said, his tone completely serious and grim. "I need you to know before we take this mission that it's possible that either one or all of you may suffer massive injuries. Are you willing to take it regardless?"

"Of course, sensei," Naruto replied almost without thinking, as he wasn't one to back down.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted with a snort of indignation as if he just had been insulted.

Sakura found herself unable to say no, not when both of her teammates had already seemed to have agreed. While quite insecure at the thought of engaging in a potentially dangerous mission right up from the start of her ninja career, but really who could blame her? After all, Kakashi-sensei had put it very simply, taking on the mission was likely to end up with all three of them injured.

"Okay, then, Team 7, you might just be the first team to ever, to willingly take on this mission," Sarutobi stated, smiling widely, though it seemed odd… eerie. As if he was trying to smile in another way that made shivers run down the genins spines. "Okay, then, Team 7, your mission is to rescue is a very important person to the daimyō's wife."

"So who is Tora?" Sakura asked, getting kind of worried from how some of the chunin at the mission desk was acting.

"Tora is a cat," the Hokage answered, making the unease Sakura felt stronger.

"A cat?" Naruto frowned with a bemused expression.

"Yes, the daimyō's cat to exact," the replied with another strange smile, that was either predatory or signalling a prank was being played here. Neither options did make any of the genins feel good about the upcoming mission.

 **/|~{ (- V -) }~|\**

Enju currently was sitting grumbling, in the shadow of a large tree, training on her juggling. While she rather be sparring, Tsunade had been quite adamant that she needed to rest some more, despite the girl's many protests. She was supervised by Tsunade's apprentice, Shizune, who was there to make sure she didn't do anything too strenuous.

She had also agreed to help Haku, who had shown interest learning more about poisons and medical jutsu. She was currently going through what currently in those subjects. And while he already had quite good chakra control, especially considering his young age, along with somewhat extensive knowledge about plants and herbs. But from what Shizune had heard so far, Haku had mostly learned what he could from books or scrolls and had little to no practical experience in any of them.

"So, how are we doing this then? We never decided." Tsunade asks as stood some distance away from Shizune, facing the last of Jiraiya's brats.

Fū smirks, and the next thing Tsunade knew, Fū was in close and driving a punch into her seemingly unguarded ribs. "Got you," Tsunade smirked as Fū's eyes widened. Grabbing the younger girl's head, she pushed down while driving a knee up, stunning Fū for a brief second. She followed the knee blow with three strong punches to the stomach followed by a snap kick into the younger girl's jaw, sending her tumbling through the air a few times before landing on her feet and sliding back a short distance.

Shaking her head, Fū came at her again, this time unleashing a barrage of punches and kicks, almost none of which hit Tsunade. Sometimes the Sannin's hands would move as well, flashing up and knocking Fū's strikes away from her body, thereby redirecting and disrupting the flow of kinetic energy and making the girl stumble.

Fū then tried to throw a sucker punch at Tsunade, her eyes widened as she found Tsunade grabbing her arm and giving it a tug, redirecting her punch and knocking her off balance, Tsunade then drove a knee into the girl's stomach with enough force that the younger girl's eyes widened and she coughed hard.

Although Fū was not done yet and executes a series of jabs, kicks, uppercuts, chops and palm thrusts even as she sways, and weaves to escape Tsunade's hits. Tsunade similarly goes through a devastating range of jabs, haymakers, and straight-arrow punches whilst ducking, spinning, and swaying around Fū's hits. Finally, after a few more moments studying the girl fight style some more, impressed by the power the girl's strikes held, though she did notice several flaws in the mint-haired girl's fighting.

"You're doing it wrong," Tsunade then said.

That caused Fū to stop. "… eh?"

While Tsunade had been somewhat reluctant when Jiraiya had asked her to look after his brats. But since she had agreed to do this, she had decided to do this properly.

"Get into your stance and have your dominant leg behind your other leg," Tsunade moved so that she would be able to help Fū fix her stance.

"The dominant leg's toe should be pointed to its side while your secondary leg is in front, its toe pointed straight forward. You want your torso to generally face the direction of your dominant leg. Your hands can be in a guard position or relaxed."

"…"

"Are you listening to me, brat?"

"Uh, yes!" The small girl snapped to attention and moved her right leg back as instructed.

"If you want to go for speed, you will use your front foot. If you want a more powerful kick, use your back leg." After letting this fact settle in with the child, Tsunade continued. "Raise your kicking leg's knee so your thigh is parallel to the ground, about hip to waist level. This is called chambering. Breathe in as you do this."

"Kick your leg, snapping it forward quickly. With a front kick, you can use the ball of your foot or your instep as a striking surface. As you kick, rapidly release the air in your lungs. Remember, breath in when you contract, breath out when you expand. This also will relax your body, allowing for proper technique, because holding air in means your muscles are too tense, and you are trying to control your kick too much, which weakens the kick, slows it down and tires you out faster."

"Now give it a shot," instructed the older woman while bending down to closely observe the younger girl's progress.

Fū complied, using her back leg as the kicking leg. It shot forward, grazing the older woman in the face. "Much better."

 **/|~{ (- V -) }~|\**

Deep within a forest at one of Konoha's many training grounds, Team 7 laid face first on the ground against the soft grass on the forest ground. All three of them were covered in bruises, scratches, cuts and all forms of grime, dirt and overall forest junk. Not even their clothes had not escaped unscathed, suffering from having come into contact with sharp claws, that were sharper then they thought they had any right to be.

"We can't keep chase Tora like this," Sakura grumbled, as she picked herself off the ground, removing a few twigs that had gotten caught in her hair as she did. "It's just too fast and too agile for us. Too small, too. Not mention it seems too smart for it to be normal."

"Yeah… it can go into all sorts of tiny places we can't follow it through." Naruto said as he moved so he was leaning against a nearby tree. "That cat's better than we thought…"

They had been chasing Tora for over an hour now, almost running non-stop through the forest. Even going the full mile and chasing it through the denser parts of the forest, where the underbrush had become too thick to thread quickly. Though in hindsight, perhaps they should have realized just how in deep the shit they'd just jumped into was when everyone else in the room almost burst out laughing except their teammates. They really should have known that something was up with that...

Sasuke groaned as he was sitting up fully and trying to figure out a way to beat this mission that had them so vexed. He cursed to himself for ever having underestimated the difficulty of this mission, and for them ever accepting it so easily in the first place.

Hindsight 20/20, he guessed. Sasuke had also begun to seriously doubt that Tora was an ordinary cat, it couldn't be... not with the way it keeps avoiding them. But still, even knowing that, they still needed to catch it somehow. But how...?

 **/|~{ (- V -) }~|\**

Tsunade continued to push Fū during their spar until her muscles shook and she felt like she was going to vomit. And when she finally did, Tsunade let her stop for the day. Fū was currently laying resting as the forest was currently playing a pleasant melody, and a gentle breeze softly blew and made the leaves inside the forest play a note of greenery. Under the shadow of a large tree, listening to the melody of the forest, looking at the interlacing leaves in the sky.

Nearby Shizune was helping Haku refine his skills with senbons, along with some minor tips and tricks. While Enju had managed convince her to give her permission from Tsunade for some minor training, but any type of sparing was still a no go.

After having her warmed up properly, Tsunade had wanted to see just how limber the little girl's body really was. While the medic had heard a few things from Jiraiya, she had wanted to ascertain things with her own eyes. The girl had already done several impressive splits, flips, and stretches, but was currently taking a short break.

After taking a few deep breaths, Enju relaxed her back, and contracted her abs, bending her spine in an almost impossible curve, especially considering the girl's tail and that she several had thick bone plates covering her spine. She then slowly stood up and stretched herself, her upper body tipping backward until she could see the ground behind her feet. Although, there she seemed to have lost her balance, as she fell backward, but her reflexes seemed to have quickly kicked in, as her hands stopped her.

Once she was standing up properly again, Enju put one leg behind her neck without using her hands or losing her balance. After holding that pose for a while, Enju switched leg and did same there. Tsunade couldn't help but to be impressed by how flexible Enju was.

 **/|~{ (- V -) }~|\**

"Good job team! Now, let's report back to the Hokage shall we?" Kakashi said happily, walking back towards town. Behind him, his genin somewhat bruised and dirty followed him all the way back to the mission's desk, where they returned Tora to his owner, the wife of the Fire Daimyo. As Tora was squished by the very large woman into her bosom, Naruto felt a twinge of sympathy for the cat as he was nearly crushed by the woman's arms. His other teammates felt no such caring for the devil creature.

As the Lady walked out the room with a yowling Tora, Hiruzen looked down at his desk, flicking through papers filled with a list of D-ranks. "Alright Team Seven... Let's see . . . we have weeding the Akimichi's vegetable gardens, cleaning the Inuzuka kennels, a babysitting job, or—" a yowl of triumph followed by a wail of "Tora!"—"catching Tora again."

Naruto sighed in resignation, but kept his face impassive, even as Sakura ground her teeth nearly to dust and Sasuke growled under his breath. Already knowing that D-ranks were all they'd be getting for the foreseeable future. However, as he looked at the disbelief and shock mingled with outrage on his teammates' faces, he couldn't help a slight quirk of his lips. Turning to see both his sensei and his jiji holding back smirks, his lips stretched a little more into a small smile.

"So, this is how it is, ne jiji?" he asked the older man, who simply laughed.

"We'll take the weeding job." Kakashi decided at last, lips twitching in amusement underneath his mask, at the disappointed grunting of his students.

 **/|~{ (- V -) }~|\**

 **TBC**

 **/|~{ (- AN -) }~|\**

I was just wondering do think Enju should get memories of the Naruto or should just leave them be? I'm having a hard time to decide as if Enju got them, that would mean years memories in an instant. So I'm not really sure how to handle that. Thinking about maybe, having her lose consciousness from mental overload, or something similar.

Another thing I'm unsure is when to kill off the Naruto clone. I have narrow it down to either the Wave mission or during the Chūnin Exams, but not later than in the Sand/Sound invasion. Although I'm leaning more for the later options instead of the first, as it would easier to incorporate Team Jiraiya in the Chūnin Exams, then in the wave mission.

 **/|~{ (- AN -) }~|\**


End file.
